According to Hepp and Couldry’s introduction, media events theoretically brought together the traditions of social mass communication and research with the media, developing a new phenomenon of broadcasting ([1], 2). Global media events occur often, usually creating more uproar or devastation than happiness to the globe when these events are reported. An example of a media event is the 2004 Tsunami catastrophe. A similar catastrophe that to me is the global media event of the 21st century is the earthquake in Haiti.
This earthquake’s one-year anniversary was on January 12, 2011. That earthquake destroyed the country of Haiti and devastated the entire world. There was a death toll from 200,000 to 250,000 with people missing for weeks at a time before being found [3]. In addition to the death toll, 2.3 million people were displaced from the quake and 102 UN staff members perished from the event. This catastrophe holds the record for the highest loss of life from a single event in United Nations history [4]. People all over the globe had family in Haiti that they were unable to contact for long periods of time because the country lost all electricity and phone service. The destruction and chaos from this disaster was definitely a global media event. Every news station and reporter on the globe was covering the trauma and stories of survivors in Haiti for months in a row. The United Nations was very involved in the Haitian earthquake and stepped in with relief efforts from all over the world. 72 countries in the world chipped in and helped in aiding Haiti through its struggle [2]. The earthquake in Haiti was a devastating global media event of the 21st century that will be remembered forever for all of the destruction and innocent lives taken by this catastrophic natural disaster.
[1] Couldry, Nick/Hepp, Andreas/Krotz, Friedrich (eds.): Media Events in a Global Age. 2009. London, New York: Routledge 2009.
[2] "Countries Involved in Haiti's Earthquake Relief." TRINICENTER.COM - An Online Magazine on All That Is Trini plus International News and Views. 19 Jan. 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2011.
[3] "Haiti Earthquake of 2010." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 12 July 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2011.
[4] "UN Marks One-year Anniversary of Haiti Earthquake - Worldnews.com." World News.com. 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 13 Jan. 2011.
I greatly enjoyed reading your post, an additional idea to think about is why are most media events that people come to think of those of tragedy instead of triumph? I guess it simply is the society that we live in but a portion of it must also have to do with how the media covers particular events.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion Daniel, for some reason humans are interested and almost intrigued by the idea of tragedy which is exactly why there are so many movies, tv shows, and novels written about it. The media televises and writes about more unfortunate news then happy news. That itself is very interesting to think about.
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